Okay, people. This is Sydney. My girlfriend, Lauren, just went offline on ICQ. She's in Los Angeles, in a luxury house on the beachfront. I wish I could be with her, enjoying her company and the Second Amendment. I'm not.

Anyway. 6:21 pm as I write this. My brother Hugh just left; my parents and my younger brothers are about to leave to a friend's apartment. Hugh had been drinking beer, and a good amount of it -I could smell the stuff. I don't plan to drink any. I'm going out, but not touching more than one drink an hour.

My plans? None. Lauren was originally going to come down here, so I planned to be with her. Then she hurt herself and couldn't fly (she has Von Willebrand's disease. She lost a lot of blood. Apparently flying in a depressurised plane would be dangerous.) Anyway, in the meantime, my friends put down to an expensive thing at the Opera House. I didn't, because I'd expected to enjoy NYE in a hotel room with my girlfriend. Now I'm basically on my own until about 1 am. Perhaps that's for the better.

6:25 pm.

I'm going to be going in, meeting my friends in the City at 1 am.. if I could find my cellphone it'd be a lot easier. Oh well. There's estimated to be 2 million people within a 1.5 km radius of the Bridge. That's a *big* crowd, high density, and nothing like the amount of security the NYPD has. Thankfully, Australia doesn't go about pissing other countries off. Except perhaps Indonesia. Still, I don't expect a bomb.

I'm carrying a backpack. It's got a 600mL bottle of water in it. A clipboard with pen and writing paper (I promised Lauren I'd write her a letter at some point.) Cash, in case I lose my wallet. A reliable torch. Three Mars bars. I considered putting in some rice but decided against it. Oh, and I also have about 30 sparklers. I don't know why I have those. I'd rather a .38, just in case.

For the past few days it's been raining. There's grey clouds and high winds over us now; I'm wearing a grey t-shirt and dark jeans, and running shoes; I have blond hair and have been described as Scandinavian, for those who want to visualise me. And anyone in Sydney who sees a medium-height guy with a black backpack, possibly looking for a payphone, say hi ;)

It might rain. I'm going to bring an umbrella along.

6:32 pm. A wind is brushing through.

My personal estimate is that tonight, nothing is going to happen. Tomorrow, I'm buying more drinking water and rice. Maybe some UGI (Used to Get It) will hold a garage sale, and I can get good stuff for cheap. Like a kerosene heater.

Anyway.. 6:34 pm. Diane, you're in SF (where Lauren hails from, incidentally); it's 11:34 pm on the 30th for you. Not sure about East Coast- I think it could be 2:34 am as I write this, but not 100% sure. Either way.. using Sydney time, I'll be home by 5 am at worst. That's 10 am for you Californians. Anyway, I'll post an update of anything I notice.. 6:40 pm. (Been walking around a bit.) This is Leo, signing off. Good luck, people.

Leo

-- Leo Champion (lchampion@dingoblue.net.au), December 31, 1999

Answers

Good luck and Happy New Year Leo... good to hear from you buddy.

Mike

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-- Michael Taylor (mtdesign3@aol.com), December 31, 1999.

Godspeed, Leo...

-- Jess (alisaunde@aol.com), December 31, 1999.

Good luck Leo.

Remember.. it's just the turning point now. The telling global repercussions could be upcoming ones in supply chains and economics. They will take awhile to... spill out. Or not.

Diane

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), December 31, 1999.

Leo,

Thanks for all of your great posts. Hearing your report will be so much more valuable to me then the "news" version.

Good luck and stay in touch with us.

-- Sara Nealy (keithn@aloha.net), December 31, 1999.